This study examines two &lsquo / socialist&rsquo / utopias of the late 19th century: W. Morris&rsquo / s News from Nowhere and E. Bellamy&rsquo / s Looking Backward. The major concern is to question the validity of title &lsquo / socialist&rsquo / for these two texts. The reference points for such an analysis are: modernity, Marxism of the late 19th century and the practice of discipline. In this context, the intention is to find out ruptures and continuities with respect to the central ideas of socialism and basic premises of modernity. The study explorates that there are serious points of rupture in these two texts with respect to the major premises of modernity, because in Morris&rsquo / s utopia there is a romantic search for restoring communism of the 14th century, in Bellamy&rsquo / s text there are typical reactionary modernist suggestions concerning the nature of typical socialist societies. In that sense, due to the disassociation between socialism and modernity in these two texts, it is very problematic to classify these utopias as socialist. The study also questions whether the sources of such disassociation are embedded in Marxism itself. In response to such question, the study argues that this is the case to a great extent.

My dissertation, Pen and Printing-Block: William Morris and the Resurrection of Medieval Paratextuality, considers William Morris’s influence on the rise of paratextual awareness, his negotiation strategies for Victorian England’s social identity, and his rhetorical construction of an idealized past through textual artifacts. The effect of Morris’s growing social awareness on his transition from illumination to print is reframed by considering his calligraphy as paratextual experiments, based on medieval examples, in combining graphic and discursive meanings with rhetorical and social dimensions. The varied and less ambitious agendas of those printers who followed Morris’s Kelmscott Press, however, limited Morris’s legacy in the book arts. The full significance of his illuminations’ meaningful interplay between text and image, and the social intent of these innovations applications in print, has received little critical attention. The opening chapter frames Morris’s visual work in light of his philosophies and introduces the major concerns of material art, the role of history, the limits of language, and the question of meaningful labour. The second chapter surveys select predecessors of Morris’s developing conception of the Gothic, the significance of architecture as its defining form, and the irreplaceability of the physical past. The third chapter considers the role of the illuminated manuscript in Pre-Raphaelite art, tracing Morris’s calligraphic experiments chronologically while identifying medieval inspirations and examining his artistic development. These experiments led to his final collaborative manuscript, the illuminated Æneid which is the fourth chapter’s focus. The sophistication of its paratextual elements is discussed in light of its unique physicality and limitations. The fifth chapter asserts the Kelmscott Press’s role in balancing craftsmanship and aesthetic paratextual strategies with reproducible models. The Kelmscott Chaucer is the culmination of these strategies, and it is compared to the visual rhetoric of its predecessors. The final chapter compares the philosophies and calligraphic elements of major private presses that followed Kelmscott’s legacy. This evolution of aesthetic, social, and practical considerations is also identified in the work of selected Canadian printers, and a final note considers the implications of the rise of immaterial digital text (radiant textuality) for the continuation of material paratextuality’s role in the future.

My dissertation, Pen and Printing-Block: William Morris and the Resurrection of Medieval Paratextuality, considers William Morris’s influence on the rise of paratextual awareness, his negotiation strategies for Victorian England’s social identity, and his rhetorical construction of an idealized past through textual artifacts. The effect of Morris’s growing social awareness on his transition from illumination to print is reframed by considering his calligraphy as paratextual experiments, based on medieval examples, in combining graphic and discursive meanings with rhetorical and social dimensions. The varied and less ambitious agendas of those printers who followed Morris’s Kelmscott Press, however, limited Morris’s legacy in the book arts. The full significance of his illuminations’ meaningful interplay between text and image, and the social intent of these innovations applications in print, has received little critical attention. The opening chapter frames Morris’s visual work in light of his philosophies and introduces the major concerns of material art, the role of history, the limits of language, and the question of meaningful labour. The second chapter surveys select predecessors of Morris’s developing conception of the Gothic, the significance of architecture as its defining form, and the irreplaceability of the physical past. The third chapter considers the role of the illuminated manuscript in Pre-Raphaelite art, tracing Morris’s calligraphic experiments chronologically while identifying medieval inspirations and examining his artistic development. These experiments led to his final collaborative manuscript, the illuminated Æneid which is the fourth chapter’s focus. The sophistication of its paratextual elements is discussed in light of its unique physicality and limitations. The fifth chapter asserts the Kelmscott Press’s role in balancing craftsmanship and aesthetic paratextual strategies with reproducible models. The Kelmscott Chaucer is the culmination of these strategies, and it is compared to the visual rhetoric of its predecessors. The final chapter compares the philosophies and calligraphic elements of major private presses that followed Kelmscott’s legacy. This evolution of aesthetic, social, and practical considerations is also identified in the work of selected Canadian printers, and a final note considers the implications of the rise of immaterial digital text (radiant textuality) for the continuation of material paratextuality’s role in the future.

Résumé Cet ouvrage examine les fondements du mouvement de conservation architecturale moderne. Dans ce contexte, la création de la « Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings » par William Morris est considéré comme le point culminant d’un processus historique qui mena à l’apparition du mouvement. Sa genèse est présentée comme ayant été le résultat d’une confrontation entre deux visions utopiques du moyen-âge; celle de l’Église Anglicane et celle de William Morris. Un survol détaillé des origines, des résultats et des effets de la « Renaissance Gothique » ouvre tout grand sur les sources littéraires, idéologiques et religieuses qui y donnèrent sa force. Les grands programmes de restaurations qui ont vu le jour en Angleterre à l’ère victorienne sont examinés en relation avec l’Église Anglicane et caractérisés par les motivations idéologiques de celle-ci. Bien que ce memoire ne réussit pas à démontré de manière sans équivoque que la création du mouvement de conservation architectural moderne par Morris fut essentiellement en reaction au programme idéologique de l’Église Anglicane au dix-neuvième siècle, nous y retrouvons néanmoins une réévaluation des causes et de l’impact de la « Renaissance Gothique » qui, de manière significative, allaient à l’encontre des croyances et des principes les plus chers à Morris. Il existe une quantité admirable d’ouvrages examinant les travaux et l’impact de William Morris en littérature et en arts, ainsi que son activisme socialiste. Cependant, il serait juste de constater qu’en comparaison, la grande contribution qu’il apporta à la protection de l’architecture patrimoniale a certainement été négligée dans les publications à son sujet. Ce projet de recherche examine les éléments et les conditions qui ont motivé Morris à créer un mouvement qui encore aujourd’hui continue de croitre en importance et en influence. / Abstract This research seeks to examine and contextualize the origins of the modern architectural conservation movement. In this context, William Morris’ founding of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings is considered to be the culmination of a complex history and process that lead to the movement’s creation. Its genesis is presented as having resulted from the confrontation between diverging views and idealizations of the middle ages, the Anglican Church, and William Morris. An extensive survey of the origins, results, and effects of Gothic Revival points to the literary, ideological, and religious components which gave it its main impetus. The widespread restoration programs carried out in Victorian England in the nineteenth century are largely examined in relation to the Anglican Church and presented as having been motivated by its ideological concerns. Although this research does not manage to demonstrate unequivocally that William Morris’ founding of the modern architectural conservation movement sprang from a direct reaction to the Anglican Church’s religious program in the nineteenth century, it does reevaluate the causes and impact of the Gothic Revival and demonstrates how these were at odds with some of Morris’ most fundamental beliefs and principles. While there is a sizeable body of scholarly work examining William Morris’ work as a poet, artist and socialist, his great contribution to the conservation of ancient buildings has clearly been minimized in comparison. This research project examines the factors and conditions that led Morris towards the creation of an organization which to this day remains highly pertinent and influential.

As Aristotle wrote, rhetoric is an art or faculty of finding the available means of persuasion in a given circumstance, and the late nineteenth century was a time in American history when many authors used utopian fiction as the best available means of persuasion. For a few years, the utopian novel became a widespread, versatile and common rhetorical trope. Edward Bellamy was the most popular of these writers. Bellamy’s utopian novel Looking Backward was not only the third best-selling book of nineteenth century America, it inspired over a hundred other utopian novels and helped create a mass movement of “Bellamy clubs” along with a political party (Nationalism). During the latter part of the nineteenth century, American public discourse underwent a general shift from a focus on communal values to a focus on individuals as the source of truth. Utopian fiction of the era helps illuminate why and how this shift occurred. In nineteenth century America, literature was generally not considered to be rhetorical. At most, critics treated fiction as a form of epideictic rhetoric, aiming only to delight, educate, or create discussion. When fiction was used to promote legislative agendas and thus entered into the realm of deliberative rhetoric, critics argued that its transgression of rhetorical boundaries supposedly ruined its appeal. Utopian literature came the closest to breaking down the barriers between literature and rhetoric, as hundreds of utopian novels were published, most of them in response to Edward Bellamy. A close rhetorical reading of Looking Backward details its rhetorical nature and helps account for its rhetorical success. I treat each of the novels as participants in the larger cultural conversation, and detail the ways in which they address Bellamy, each other, and issues such as the temperance movement and the decline of classical languages in higher education. In modern times, though Bellamy has faded from the public memory, he has proven useful in a variety of contexts, from a political punching bag to a way to lend an air of erudition to various types of popular fiction. / text

Résumé Cet ouvrage examine les fondements du mouvement de conservation architecturale moderne. Dans ce contexte, la création de la « Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings » par William Morris est considéré comme le point culminant d’un processus historique qui mena à l’apparition du mouvement. Sa genèse est présentée comme ayant été le résultat d’une confrontation entre deux visions utopiques du moyen-âge; celle de l’Église Anglicane et celle de William Morris. Un survol détaillé des origines, des résultats et des effets de la « Renaissance Gothique » ouvre tout grand sur les sources littéraires, idéologiques et religieuses qui y donnèrent sa force. Les grands programmes de restaurations qui ont vu le jour en Angleterre à l’ère victorienne sont examinés en relation avec l’Église Anglicane et caractérisés par les motivations idéologiques de celle-ci. Bien que ce memoire ne réussit pas à démontré de manière sans équivoque que la création du mouvement de conservation architectural moderne par Morris fut essentiellement en reaction au programme idéologique de l’Église Anglicane au dix-neuvième siècle, nous y retrouvons néanmoins une réévaluation des causes et de l’impact de la « Renaissance Gothique » qui, de manière significative, allaient à l’encontre des croyances et des principes les plus chers à Morris. Il existe une quantité admirable d’ouvrages examinant les travaux et l’impact de William Morris en littérature et en arts, ainsi que son activisme socialiste. Cependant, il serait juste de constater qu’en comparaison, la grande contribution qu’il apporta à la protection de l’architecture patrimoniale a certainement été négligée dans les publications à son sujet. Ce projet de recherche examine les éléments et les conditions qui ont motivé Morris à créer un mouvement qui encore aujourd’hui continue de croitre en importance et en influence. / Abstract This research seeks to examine and contextualize the origins of the modern architectural conservation movement. In this context, William Morris’ founding of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings is considered to be the culmination of a complex history and process that lead to the movement’s creation. Its genesis is presented as having resulted from the confrontation between diverging views and idealizations of the middle ages, the Anglican Church, and William Morris. An extensive survey of the origins, results, and effects of Gothic Revival points to the literary, ideological, and religious components which gave it its main impetus. The widespread restoration programs carried out in Victorian England in the nineteenth century are largely examined in relation to the Anglican Church and presented as having been motivated by its ideological concerns. Although this research does not manage to demonstrate unequivocally that William Morris’ founding of the modern architectural conservation movement sprang from a direct reaction to the Anglican Church’s religious program in the nineteenth century, it does reevaluate the causes and impact of the Gothic Revival and demonstrates how these were at odds with some of Morris’ most fundamental beliefs and principles. While there is a sizeable body of scholarly work examining William Morris’ work as a poet, artist and socialist, his great contribution to the conservation of ancient buildings has clearly been minimized in comparison. This research project examines the factors and conditions that led Morris towards the creation of an organization which to this day remains highly pertinent and influential.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 280-290). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

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This paper interweaves narrativized readings and experiential narratives as personal and cultural resources for counterhegemonic cultural critique within our historical context of globalization and ecological crisis. Framed by perspectives on epistemology, everyday life, and place, these reflections seek to engage and revitalize our notions of community, creativity, and the individual, towards visioning the human art of community as a counternarrative to globalization. Such a task involves confronting the meanings we have come to ascribe to work and economy which so deeply determine our social fabric. Encountering the thought of key 19th and 20th century social theorists ranging from William Morris, Gregory Bateson, and Raymond Williams, to Murray Bookchin, Martin Buber, and Wendell Berry, these reflections mark the indivisible web of culture in the face of our insistent divisions, and further, iterate our innate creativity as the source for a vital, sustainable culture that might reflect, in Bateson’s terms, the pattern that connects.